In various environments, it may be necessary or desirable for operators to wear communication headsets. For example, air traffic controllers and airplane pilots often wear headsets in order to communicate with one another. As another example, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) operators and air defense system operators often wear headsets in order to communicate with others or listen to information. These types of environments are often highly taxing on an operator. Drowsiness, inattention, stress, or fatigue can cause loss of life or millions of dollars in property damage.
Various approaches have been developed to identify problems with an operator wearing a headset. For example, some approaches detect the nodding of an operator's head to identify operator drowsiness or fatigue, while other approaches analyze voice communications to detect operator stress or fatigue. Still other approaches require that an operator wear a blood pressure cuff at all times. These conventional approaches are typically more invasive and uncomfortable to an operator or require the use of additional equipment, such as motion sensors or optical sensors.